


keep me sane (my eyes are failing)

by zayheathers



Series: sketchbook one-shots/stories [2]
Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Erik Ahlberg-bashing, F/F, First Meetings, apologies for the length, but it's short + sweet, if you like ahlberg (though I assume there's few that do) this is not the fic for you, takes place during that bell episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28163100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zayheathers/pseuds/zayheathers
Summary: in which Johanna really needs something to stop her from falling asleep—and it just so happens that Kaisa is in the general vicinity, and is more than happy to help out.
Relationships: Johanna | Hilda's Mum/The Librarian (Hilda), Johanna/Kaisa
Series: sketchbook one-shots/stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060220
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76





	keep me sane (my eyes are failing)

Maybe Johanna should have brought a book, or something. Anything, really, to occupy her mind. Instead the only form of entertainment—if you could even call it that—came from Erik Ahlberg’s speech, which was honestly just rapidly fading noise she was trying _so hard_ to pay attention to. It wasn't working.

Something about bells? Trolls, certainly. ( _God, this man was obsessed_ ).

She feels her eyes drooping shut, getting heavy with boredom and exhaustion.

Honestly, where had Hilda gone off to? If she were here, at least she could help her poor old mum stay awake for a few hours, instead of catching up on the sleep she’s missed because of the ridiculous poster she’d been commissioned for.

Her last coherent thought is that she’s extremely glad she’d chosen to sit near the back, because she’s more than tempted to lose this war with her hundred-kilo eyelids. 

* * *

Kaisa had _not_ wanted to come to the ceremony because, one, Erik Ahlberg will always be a waste of her time, and, two, because… well… she just did not want to. Why should she come to it, anyway? It isn’t like Ahlberg is actually competent. Nor does he know, she’s sure, that she exists (and she plans to keep it that way).

Then Tildy had come around with her all-knowing-eyes and her sweet smile, and told her that if she wanted to know more about the bells that had inconvenienced every single aspect of her life (the hours she spent tidying the books fallen on the floor are hours of her life she will never get back), she should go.

And everyone knows that if you want a witch to do something, you piqued her curiosity. Well, Tildy, consider her curiosity adequately piqued. 

Which is how Kaisa finds herself standing in a less crowded area of the town centre (or whatever it was called—she was not particularly versed in Trollberg geography; there was no real need for her to be), attempting to surreptitiously blend into the background. Probably a good idea she had forgone her cape, though she does not feel too comfortable without it.

She files through the crowd with her eyes, looking for either a more comfortable place to sit or a more engaging type of company—Kaisa had arrived a little late, after all, and most of the seats had been taken by then. Deep down, she hopes that maybe she can find Hilda, but something tells her that that will not be.

Eventually, her eyes land on a brown-haired woman, sitting towards the back of the crowd and clearly trying not to fall asleep. It’s quite adorable, how her head bobs down low every so often before quickly snapping back up again, no doubt causing tension towards her spine. 

Though it is only when the woman closes her eyes and her breathing evens out that Kaisa thinks she should _maybe_ help her. 

Surprisingly, getting to where the brown-haired woman sits (sleeps, if one is into all that technicality) is simple. People take no notice of her moving through, and when they do, all that happens is they politely shuffle back, letting her pass. It is quite kind. Quickly, she finds herself next to the woman, not sure what to do.

She settles on tapping her shoulder lighty. The woman doesn’t stir. Trying again, Kaisa taps a little harder this time—and the woman bolts forward.

Kaisa is thankful the woman is a quiet waker.

“ _Hilda?”_ the woman breathes, eyes momentarily frantic, and she shakes her head. “Oh. It’s not—… Can I,” she says, a little groggy, blinking a few times to clear the foggy vision that occurs after sleeping, “can I help you?”

Kaisa shakes her head again, in the back of her mind noting that this is Hilda’s mother. She has seen her before, with the little girl. “No. I was just wanting to make sure you stayed awake. This position is not good for you back, and I’m worried Ahlberg might notice you… nodding off.”

“Oh,” Hilda’s mother says, smiling in a still-sleepy but genuine way, “thank you for that. I hadn’t expected his speech to go on so long.”

She laughs quietly, and Kaisa enjoys the way she leans in a little, like they are conspiring. “Or to be so boring.”

“We probably should have been prepared though,” she says with another smile, this one more awake. Kaisa is glad she could engage the woman into wakefulness. “I don’t know what I expected from the _great_ Erik Ahlberg himself.”

This draws a laugh out of Kaisa, and she sees the woman next to her give an answering chuckle, ducking her head as if she is proud at making a stranger laugh. Perhaps she is. Strangely, Kaisa does not see her out with anyone besides from Hilda, and perhaps she also lacks... friends.

“I’m sorry,” she says when an awkward silence inevitably falls on them, “I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Johanna.”

Kaisa takes the hand she extends and shakes it, finding Johanna’s palm to be much warmer than her own. “Kaisa… You’re, uh, you are Hildie’s mother.”

Johanna seems slightly taken aback. “Oh, yes. Yes I am. How’d you know that?”

“She spends quite a lot of time in the library.”

Something dawns on Johanna. “ _Oh!_ That’s where I’ve seen you before. You’re the librarian!”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I meant to introduce myself to you earlier, especially since Hilda _is_ at the library a lot. I never really got around to it, it just kept slipping my mind.”

“That’s okay. We’re introducing ourselves now.”

“Right.” Johanna shakes her head, and her shoulder-length, soft-looking brown hair flows with the movement. Kaisa can feel her heart beat slightly harder, faster. “I can’t believe I had time to sleep and he’s _still_ going.”

“Perhaps he could set a record. The fastest time a speech sent audience members to sleep.”

“I’m not so sure the ‘members’ is plural.”

Kaisa looks around at the crowd. “You would be surprised.”

The time seems to pass quickly with Johanna. She is easy to talk to—always kind and humorous, but never judgemental—and their conversation moves from one topic to the next, fast enough that Kaisa cannot keep track of where they’re going.

Maybe that isn’t a bad thing.

Before long, Ahlberg finishes whatever he had been saying with a flourish, but the commotion that follows is what really catches Kaisa’s attention. 

“What’s going on?” Johanna asks.

“Something is not going according to his plan, I think.”

“Ah. Well, can’t really do anything about that,” she says, and Kaisa laughs, leaning back just as Johanna does, and simply enjoying the moment. She acknowledges that she should probably take her leave now, but something in her is making it difficult to leave. A few more minutes won’t hurt, anyway.

* * *

“Hilda, where have you been? You missed the entire ceremony.”

“Oh, sorry,” Hilda says, scuffing her shoes together and sounding genuinely apologetic. “I got distracted. Ran into some… friends.”

“Really?” Johanna asks, and her daughter nods. “Well, me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! comments + kudos are MUCH loved but never mandatory :)


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